For Cassie's father in the TV series, see John

Walter is Cassie's father and a veterinarian who runs the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic.

Biography

Career and Family Life

Walter is a veterinarian^[3] who married a fellow veterinarian named Michelle^[1] and lived with her on their farm^[3] in California.^[4] In 1984,^{[note 1]} Michelle gave birth to their daughter, Cassie. By the 1990s, Michelle was working as the head veterinarian at the local amusement park-zoo known as The Gardens, while Walter converted the barn of their farm into the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic, a center to treat injured non-pet animals, and operated the business as his primary occupation.^[3] During his time as a vet, Walter was sprayed six times in three seconds by a skunk, and the incident traumatized him that skunks became the only animal he feared and struggled to approach. Due to the skunk smell, he was forced out of the house by Michelle and forced to sleep in the barn, although the skunk smell agitated the other animals. As a result, Walter was forced to sleep in a tent in the yard, with the tent later being burned.^[5] By the mid-1990s, Walter met a boy named Jake, a friend of Cassie's from school whom Cassie had a crush on.^[2] Walter owned a truck that he used around the farm^[6] that he loved.^[5] In 1996,^[7] Jake came over to their house for Thanksgiving,^[8] and Walter grew fond of Jake. Walter also began to go bald around this time, something he became sensitive about.^[2]

In 1997,^{[note 2]} Walter was asleep at home around midnight when he awoke to the sounds of the animals in the barn hollering. Grabbing a flashlight, he walked to the barn and found Cassie there, who claimed that she couldn't sleep and thus came to the barn. Walter told Cassie to return to bed before noticing that his daughter had a tail behind her. Confused, he asked her to turn around, and when she did, he no longer saw a tail. Walter then believed that he was seeing things due to a lack of adequate rest and returned to the house to go back to sleep.^[8]

On a Sunday morning, Walter discovered that his truck was missing from his property and that it had been found wrecked elsewhere.^[5] Walter believed the truck to have been stolen^[6] and cried when he saw the remains of the truck,^[9] although he was unaware who exactly had been responsible for the theft and destruction. Walter then obtained a new pickup truck, one which had a CD player; although he preferred his older truck to the new truck, he considered the CD player the one feature he preferred in the new truck.^[5] Very shortly after, Walter was at home making chili with habanero chilies when he spotted Cassie entering the house with "Jake," who was actually Ax in Jake morph. Walter asked Jake if Cassie had asked him to help clean the barn, and invited Jake to eat some of his chili. Cassie quickly stated that Jake had already eaten, and Walter joked that Jake was trapped. At the dinner table, Walter gave Jake a bowl of chili and was overjoyed when Jake exclaimed that it was wonderful and finished his bowl, prompting Walter to refill Jake's bowl in glee, happy that someone else also appreciated hot food. Walter commented that Jake was a discering young man and joked that he hoped he could adopt Jake. After dinner, Walter asked Jake whether he thought the Chicago Bulls would make it to the playoffs as they had the year before, which Jake affirmed. The family then went to the living room to watch television, and Walter winked and waved at Jake when Jake got up to leave.^[2]

Treating a Burned Skunk

Due to his pickup truck having been stolen and crashed, Walter acquired a new truck; while he preferred his older truck to the new truck, the sole feature of the new truck that he liked was its CD player. In order to secure funding for the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic, Walter set up a meeting with the board of the Dudette Cat Food Corporation. On a Friday, Walter was contacted by the California Highway Patrol to inform him of a burned skunk that was found by the woods that bordered the highway. Due to his previous skunk trauma, Walter wanted Cassie to come with him. At home, Walter waited for Cassie and looked in the refrigerator while Michelle went into the basement pantry to retrieve a six-pack of V8. As Cassie entered the house, Walter asked where she had been, to which Cassie claimed that she had gone on a walk. Walter then informed Cassie about a "certain animal" that needed help, which Cassie immediately realized was a skunk. She chided her father for being scared of animals despite being a trained veterinarian, and Walter responded that he was only afraid of skunks and even that was only due to his traumatic incident. Walter mentioned his meeting with the Dudette Cat Food Corporation the next day that he could not attend smelling like skunk and told Cassie that all animals loved her.

Getting into his new truck, Walter drove himself and Cassie to the highway while he played a jazz CD. Arriving on the side of the highway, Walter put on the hazard lights and advised Cassie to be careful due to the speeding cars. When they located the burned skunk, Walter cautioned Cassie to put on gloves due to skunks being a vector for rabies; when Cassie responded that she had already received her rabies shot, Walter stated that vaccines did not work 100%. Walter then went to retrieve a cage and the pair successfully brought the skunk back to the barn. At the barn, Walter applied gauze to the skunk and observed that it was a female who had recently given birth, but could not discern what had caused the burn, deeming it to have been too neatly done. The next morning, Walter went to his meeting with the Dudette Cat Food Company, where he successfully convinced them to provide funding for the clinic. That night, while doing the rounds at the clinic, Walter gave a sedative to calm the agitated mother skunk. When Cassie entered the barn. Walter told her that the skunk was female, and as he took off the gauze to apply a new bandage, he informed Cassie that the skunk was female and that he did not know what had caused the burn. Cassie asked if there was muscle damage or if it had been superficial, causing Walter to smile at his daughter as he responded that the skunk had narrowly avoided spinal damage. Walter stated that while the skunk would live, he could not say the same for her kits, and confirmed that the skunk had given birth about six or seven weeks ago. Cassie became distraught that there were skunk babies fending for themselves in the wild, to which Walter reminded his daughter that nature played rough. Cassie asked if the skunk kits would be okay, and sensing that it was troubling his daughter, Walter avoided her gaze and lied that he did not know. He then asked Cassie to hand him the scissors, and as Cassie did so, she asked if it would okay for her to sleepover at Rachel's house, and Walter replied that he was fine with it so long as Michelle was; he then told her that the cat food company had agreed to fund the clinic. As he continued to make his rounds, he talked with Cassie before noticing that she was sweating and looked like she was going to cry. He asked Cassie if she was feeling okay, to which she claimed that she was. The next day, Walter took his truck when he left the farm. A few days later, Walter finished treating the skunk, which Cassie and her friends released back in the forest.^[5]

This section requires expansion

Embarrassing Cassie

To be added^[10]

Clinic Funding

To be added^[11]

Andalite-Yeerk War

When the Yeerk Empire discovered that the Animorphs were in fact humans and not Andalite bandits, the Animorphs had to evacuate their families. Walter and Michelle were the first to be told about the war and to be relocated to the Hork-Bajir valley.^[1] He and Michelle were both extremely interested in studying the Hork-Bajir and Ax's physiology.

When the Animorphs decided to begin recruiting disabled children, Cassie disclosed the news to her father. Walter was appalled that they were using such children for war, but apparently did not tell anyone, as nobody else confronted Jake about the issue.^[12]

Appearances

This section requires expansion

• The Invasion (mentioned)
• The Visitor (mentioned)
• The Encounter (mentioned)
• The Message
• The Predator (mentioned)
• The Capture (mentioned)
• The Stranger (mentioned)
• The Andalite's Gift (mentioned)
• The Alien
• The Secret
• The Unknown
• The Departure
• The Sickness (mentioned)
• The Diversion
• The Ultimate
• The Sacrifice

Trivia

• In the TV series, Walter is named John.
  • He is also referred to as "John" in earlier promotional materials such as Cassie's ID card and the Animorphs Alliance secret handbook.
• He is first referred to by name as "Walter" in The Diversion.
• According to Cassie, Walter needed about an hour and three cups of coffee to truly wake up.^[8]
• Walter has a fear of skunks after having been sprayed multiple times in the face by one.^[5]

Gallery

Notes

References